Sorcerer Supreme, The Lightning Thief
by Avatar Conner
Summary: Gods are real. Monsters too, which sucks. But so does magic. My name is Vincent, and I'm a demigod. Son of...well that's to be seen. Five years ago, me and my friends, Thalia, Luke, Annabeth, and Grover came to camp half blood...but not all of us made it. Thalia sacrificed herself to save not only us but the entire camp. I left the camp, but I found something better, magic.
1. Chapter 1

My Last Day Being Normal

AN: (Greetings, Salutations, and please don't kill me.)

Gods are real. So are monsters. Now when I say that gods are real, I mean gods as in Greek Gods. That's right, I mean Zeus, Athena, Hades, all of them, like that one Disney movie, except they're not colored weirdly...at least I don't think they are. And I'm pretty sure that Hades doesn't have hair on fire, but then again...nah.

But see...that's not the only thing that's real. See, magic is real too.

Ok hold up. I should probably back up. Back way up most likely. Let me start at the point that my normal life ended.

{¥£€}

"Vincent are you doing?" I looked up to see Ronnie looming over me. Ronnie was my roommate at Saint Mary's Orphanage and he was the closest thing I had to a friend. I had been resting under a tree outside the church grounds for a few minutes.

Yes I'm a orphan, it's sad I know but honestly? Ten years without a mom and dad wasn't entirely that bad for me, the caretakers at the orphanages I've lived at always tried their best to take care of me. And yes I said orphanages, plural. See I have a tendency for the unexplainable to happen. For instance, three years ago while I was having a nightmare the lights all broke from electricity.

Another time I was eating lunch near a fountain, it was the first time I tried hot sauce and the water in the fountain started bubbling. And just two weeks ago I swore I closed the tool shed door closed too hard and cracked it. By the time I came back with one of the caretakers to explain, it was repaired.

Thankfully I haven't been taken out of this orphanage yet. Third time's the charm right?

Ronnie was two years older than me, the twelve year old holder his arms over his chest impatiently awaiting my answer. "I was taking a nap." I responded as I sat upright. Standing up I rubbed the sand out of my eyes.

"You know, if you spent half the time you do sitting around doing nothing working on school you may get better grades." Ronnie commented. I rolled my eyes, Ronnie was a good guy but he was a little nosey. He knew I was Dyslexic, but he pushed me to read one more chapter of a book for school.

I love reading, don't get me wrong, but it is a absolute nightmare with the letters getting all jumbled up. ADHD can be a challenge too, but together? I'd rather bash his head in a textbook that I don't want to even look at than try to read it at this point.

"Look, you worry about you. I'll worry about me." I replied curtly.

Ronnie let out a sigh, "Fine. Go fail your classes. See if I care." he responded nonchalantly. Vincent rolled his eyes, as Ronnie walked away, the young boy looked to his backpack at his side. He was just outside the orphanage, it was actually a large compound like church.

The tree I was leaning against was outside the walls near the road. Stared at my bag for a few minutes, "I hate him." I muttered before opening my bag and reaching in and pulling out my English history book. Opening the book, I turned to the page I bookmarked and began reading.

I sat there for about ten minutes, having read about six or seven pages in that time, before I started to get fidgety. Usually when in class I would tap my fingers down, focus on that for a few seconds before getting back to reading. For now all I could do was take a minute to listen for any passing cars or something to momentarily take my mind off the work.

When I heard what sounded like a lion, naturally I looked up to see what in the world could make that sound.

Of course, it wasn't exactly from this world so to speak.

Fifty feet away was easily the biggest, meanest, BIGGEST, dog that he ever seen in his life. Now the biggest dog I had seen was German Shepard, this thing made it look like a Chihuahua. It looked like it could wrestle a bear to the ground and kill it with no problem. It had razor sharp teeth, coal colored fur, and I swear it had glowing red eyes.

And then it charged at me.

I did the only I could think of, I turned around and jumped up to the nested test branch of the tree. Dogs can't climb trees right? My arms loop around a tree branch, I use every ounce of upper body strength j have to hoist myself up onto the branch and started climbing up as fast as I could.

I got up five branches before the dog, bear, whatever the hell that thing is, jumped up and slammed it's paws onto the trunk of the tree, the entire tree shook from the impact, making my footing slip up and fall onto the beast's back with my back.

My hands grabbed onto the fur out of reflex...very stupid mistake.

You know how people go on mechanical bull rides? Well those start out nice and slow and build up to fast, this was fast and violent, plain and simple. It tried to buck me off, causing my ankles to skyward for a second before my gut hit it's snout and causing it to snarl.

It threw it's head back, making me go flying off with puffs of hair in my hands before crashing into the ground and tumbling across the ground to a stop as I let out a pain filled groan. "Uggghhh."

The snarling sounded like a chainsaw, rolling onto my stomach I looked up to see the dog staring me down with hate in its eyes. Looking at my hands I saw that the hair I had pulled had become black as inland dripped out of my grasp. "how-?" I started before I felt the ground shake from the beast closing in.

I looked up and saw it only ten feet away. I lay there frozen with fear holding me down like weights on my back. Just as it's jaws opened, a shadow passed over my head, a pair of boots landed a few inches from my nose. A spear thrust forward into the dog's mouth, the dog liquified into a large back puddle before dissolving out of existence.

I laid there staring at the boot that saved me, it turned around to face me. Looking up, I saw who my savior was. She was a girl, she didn't look that much older than I was, she had black hair that went down to her shoulders, her eyes were blue, electricity and they looked equal parts dangerous and beautiful.

She wore a black leather jacket with s black shirt underneath, her jeans were dark as well with a few years on them. The full on combat boots completed the punk vibe outfit. What killed the image was the spear and shield she had in her hands.

"Are you ok?" she asked, I for the most part was still trying to wrap my mind around what I had just seen. I'll tell you right now, it would not be the last time I did this, not by a long shot. I'll tell you that right now.

I couldn't speak, my heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my head, I felt like everything was in a daze. Like my mind was at half power and every thought was slowed down like when you wade through a pool. The girl crouched down onto a knee, her spear pointing up to the sky with her shield dropping to the ground.

"Look, f you saw that thing, that..."

"Beardog? Dog bear? What was that!?" I asked, finally finding my voice. "Wait was that the dog from Sherlock Holmes? You know that one with the hound in it?" I asked, pushing myself up into to a sitting position. "I...I'm crazy aren't I? Oh god I'm crazy. Oh god..." I muttered as I covered my eyes with my hands. My brain was hyperactive before, now it felt like it was going at the speed of light.

The girl reached over and put a hand on my shoulder and shook me, "Hey, your not crazy. Ok, what you just saw? That was real...me and my friends were running away from it, we lost it but it ran after you." she said, there was some guilt in her voice. I looked at her and found her staring right back at me.

I broke eye contact and looked over to where it was a second ago. "Ok...so what was that?" I asked. She seemed apprehensive to speak, "Look, that thing? It just tried to eat me. I'm pretty sure that I'm owed an explanation." I said, somewhat forcefully.

She sighed, "Fine, your not gonna belive me but fine." She pointed her thumb back to where I was looking. "That thing? Hellhound, as in a dog from hell. As in the underworld. As in Greek gods and all that underworld." I shit up and listened to her, probably the smartest decision I made today. "You know gods? Like Zeus? Well...he's my dad. And all those other gods? They have kids too, half bloods, half human, half God, all kinds of suck."

She toon a breath, waiting for me to call her crazy, deluded, or just pulling a prank. "...ok."

It was her turn to look at me with utter surprise. "Ok? Like...ok? Really?" she asked, taken for a loop by my response.

"I just saw doc, the size of a bear, with red eyes, razor teeth, and when you killed it, it turned to ink and evaporated." I stated. "If there is some other explanation, please, I'm all ears." I welcomed.

She stared at me in compete silence for a few seconds before snorting out a laugh. I couldn't help but smile and chuckle too, it was crazy, but you know what? I just survived what could have been a mix between eating mauled by a dog and s bear attack, so yes I was more than a little delirious.

We both say there, laughing to ourselves for a few more seconds before we finally got it under control. "I'm sorry." she said, trying to fight the smile on her face, "I just...usually it takes more convincing you know?" she explained.

I nodded, getting myself to just smile, "Yeah I picked up on that. It's nuts, crazy, I mean I'm kinda messed up. Can't even read a book page normal." I admitted.

"Dyslexic? ADHD?" she asked. I was shaken out of state of delirium by that, I slowly nodded. She stopped smiling as well, "Same here...ADHD is our battle instincts. And our brains are trying to turn English into Ancient Greek." she explained, her thumb tracing the shady of her spear. "Pretty smart huh?"

I shook my head, "Not really. No." I replied as she stood up.

Her spear collapsed in size to that of a mace canister while her shield popped out before spinning around and shrinking into a bracelet. "So look...it's not really safe being out in the world and-"

"Thalia!" We both turned around to see three other people, one of them was a younger blonde girl, with grey eyes and fair skin, she couldn't be any older than eight or nine years old. One of the boys was clearly the oldest of them, with blonde hair and pale skin he had a sword in hand, which again, simply showed more support to this Greek gods idea.

The other boy had bushy brown hair and a slight goatee on his chin. But he was walking somewhat strangely. The blonde boy completely ignored me and approached Thalia, "Are you nuts that hellhound could have...where is it?" He asked, his head suddenly on a swivel before landing on me.

"Hey." I greeted.

"...hey..." the boy said, just now noticing me. We both looked at one another in awkward silence for a few seconds before he looked back at Thalia. "So where is it?" he asked.

She nodded towards me, "He helped distract it...Luke, he's like us." she explained, making him look at me with renewed interest.

The boy, Luke, then looked at the other boy of the group. "We're pushing our luck as it is...Grover?" he asked. The other boy looked unsure of what to say.

"We can't just leave him here. What if another mister shows up?" Grover asked.

"Yes if at all possible, I don't want to see another one of those...hellhounds was it?" I asked, Thalia nodded, "Hellhounds. I don't want to see another hellhound." I reiterated.

Luke scrached the back of his head, "Look man it's nothing personal but...the more of us there are the more attention we attract from monsters." he explained. I nodded in understanding, four of these guys together must be dangerous, five would just turn more monster heads. And I guess they could just send for help afterwords.

"We are not leaving him." I looked back at Thalia, her voice was stone cold, like if you tried to argue with her she would hit you with her shield.

I looked back at Luke, he seemed to be weighing the options, "Look of its dangerous, you guys go on and just send some help after me." I offered.

"Your not." Thalia stated plainly.

I was going to open my mouth when the mental image of her hitting me with her shield came to mind. "Ok." I quietly said. Luke sighed, knowing that this was now pointless since Thalia made up her mind.

"I'm Luke, this is Thalia," he gestured to the young woman that saved my life. He then gestured to the small blonde girl who had stayed quiet during the whole debate. "This here is Annabeth, and this guy is Grover. Our satyr and protector. He's taking us to Camp Half-Blood." he finished, patting the other boy on the shoulder.

"Satyr? Isn't that a plant?" I asked.

Grover shook his head, "No it's...well." he reached down and pulled off his legs. Well they were apparently false because his real ones were like mountain goat legs. Brown in fur like the hair on his head, and at the bottom were hooves.

"...oh like Phil." I said, they all looked at me strangely. "You know...Hercules? The Disney movie?" I asked. Grover pouted at that while Luke a Thalia had to hold back smiles, even the little girl, Annabeth, snickered.

"Grover hates that movie." Luke explained as the satyr put his fake legs back on.

"He was a very inaccurate portrayal of saytrs." Grover said before walking away in a huff.

"Grover! Come on man! He didn't mean it!" Luke called out, still smiling as he went after the protector. Annabeth fallowed behind, still trying not to laugh it failing. I looked up at Thalia, she was still smirking.

"So what's your name. Didn't really get a chance to ask." she questioned, reaching out her hand to me. I grasped it.

"Vincent. Or Vince." I introduced myself. As we fallowed the others towards the the road, where I saw Luke still trying to talk with Grover, I realized something, "Hey where we heading to anyway? Where's this camp at?"

The daughter of Zeus sighed, "Upstate New York or something."

"But...we're in-"

"Yup."

"Oh...and none of you know how to drive." I said.

"Nope." She answered.

We walked in silence for a while after that. This was going to be one long trip.

{¥£€}

The three weeks after that were both the best, and albeit worst at times, I've ever had. Annabeth finally talked to me, and for a seven year old she may have been the smartest girl I ever met. Thalia rven agreed with me on that. Luke was pretty cool too, though it was a little awkward, with him suggesting to leave me behind and all, but he was now one of my best friends.

Grover was what made the trip bare able to be honest, he had to be one of the kindest people...guys...that I ever met. It took me a bit to get over the fact that he had goat legs, and ate grass...and bleated. But he didn't seem to mind.

Thalia though...I honestly couldn't find the right amount of words to describe her. She was kind, but could turn fierce at a moment's notice if need be, and despite what you would think when you first looked at her, she was a huge team player, despite what she's gone though.

One night when I was patrolling around the camp, since everyone had a weapon but me I borrowed Luke's sword, I found Thalia sitting near a tree throwing beer bottles into a cave. I asked what was wrong, after a bitter 'mind your own business' from her, I dropped it.

After that, I gave her space. I'll admit I was a little hurt but when we were getting food for the others, she apologized for being so snappy at me. We sat down and she told me about her mother...

"Met?" I provided. We were sitting outside a Dairy Queens in New Jersey, the bag of food sitting between us on the bench we occupied.

Thalia shrugged, "I was going for hooked up. But that's pretty accurate, yeah." she responded. "She was an drama queen. I mean she did all these stupid stunts, all to try and get my father's attention." she said, resentment clear in her voice.

She lifted one of her legs up onto the bench. "She did the stupidest things. Honestly I can't believe I stayed at home for as long as I did." she said, I looked at her with shock on my face. The thought never crossed my mind that Thalia was a runaway. But it did make sense, why else would they be traveling the way they were of her mother didn't help?

"When did you..." I asked delicately. I didn't want to say something to make her zap me. I'd like to say I was joking but...daughter of Zeus you know?

"Run off? About a year and a half ago now...man. That's kinda weird saying it out loud." she said, realizing how long it's been.

We sat quietly for a while after that, I couldn't leave it like that, on some sad story that would hang over our heads the rest of the day. "You think that's bad? My parents dumped me in a orphanage." I said. Thalia looked at me like I grew a second head.

Ok I really need to rethink my definition of cheering someone else.

"My parents make your mom look like a responsible adult." I said. Thalia snorted at that, I smiled a little, "My dad makes a deadbeat look like parent of the year. At least they know they have a kid."

"Oh gods that's horrible! Stop!" she laughed out, starting to loose it.

"I mean whose's my mom's role model Peter Pan?" I asked, she lost it at that, stompping her foot into the ground as she howled with laughter.

When she finally died down in laughter, wiping a tear away she was finally able to speak. "And people think I'm twisted. Your a psychopath."

"Thank you I try." I responded mockingly as I got up, grabbing the bag. "Come on, we better get the food to Luke and Annabeth. You know how she gets when she's hungry." I said.

"She's not that bad."

"I think she'd eat me if she had the chance." I responded. "Between me and Grover, I'm the one who has more meat on the bones. But then again we could make lamb chops out of him." I said before she slugged me in gnat arm, shutting me up.

{¥£€}

The next few days were the usual, walking for miles, fighting the occasional monster that attacked. Talking to pass the time, we camped out in the forest under the tall pine trees. so this morning when I woke up to an arrow pointed at my nose? Well by now I was strangely used to the unexpected.

Me, Luke, and Grover where taken aside and punt under guard by a group of teenage girls. They were the Hunters of Artemis, and the looks they were giving us was a little unsettling. "So...cool arrows." I said aloud, making them all shoot me a look. "Ok I'll just shut up." I muttered, bowing my head with shame.

Luke bumped his elbow into me, "Hey don't let them get to ya." he said, making a few of the girls turn to scowl at him.

"Yeah they're demigods just like you guys, some Hunters are even mortal." Grover added.

"Wait. The Hunters of Artemis?" I asked, making their attention focus back to me. "Um...why do you call yourselves the hunters?" I asked cautiously.

A few of them rolled their. "We call ourselves the Hunters because we do not need to be labeled as something different from men, we are just as worthy of the title." the girls moved aside, the girl who had taken Annabeth and Thalia away to speak was back, with the pair in tow.

"Oh...ok...um, I'm just ten so..." I said, the girl's glare not letting up. She sure knew how to make a guy feel bad for just being a guy.

Thalia did not look pleased when she and Annabeth came back. "We're leaving." she said bluntly. The leader of the Hunters looked disappointedly at Thalia walked past her.

"Our offer still stands." she said as me, Luke and Grover stood up. Thalia looked back, her blue eyes turning cold and angry. Now since the hunters have been giving us guys the stink eye, I didn't want to say or do anything to offend them. That went for everyone else.

"Um, Thalia I'm pretty sure we need to get going. I mean it'll be daylight soon." I said, trying to draw her attention away from the Hunter's leader, she looked at me and I gulped. I'll tell you right now if I had to choose between getting the glare from a group of of young women or Thalia? I'd go with the group.

After a moment though she visibly calmed down, "Come on. Let's go." she said, sounding like she just lost a fight. We all fallowed her out of the woods and towards the road, when we were all out of range of their ears, and arrows, Thalia spoke. "They wanted to recruit us." she said suddenly.

"What!?" Luke asked disbelievingly. Grover was silent, but he didn't seem so surprised. I suddenly realized that he must have known that they would try to recruit the girls.

Annabeth nodded, "We both said know but...they kept saying how if we went with you guys...we'd end up dead." That made me stop in my tracks. My blood boiled at that.

I turned on a heel and made my way towards the woods, the others noticed a few seconds later, "HeyVincent what are you-!" Luke started as I cupped my hands around my mouth.

"JUST BECAUSE IM A GUY DOESN'T GIVE YOUTHE RIGHT TO TELL THEM THEY'RE GONNA DIE!" I shouted as loudly as I could into the forest. The others must think I'm stupid and crazy for doing this. "YOU DON'T LIKE GUYS? FINE! BUT DON'T BADMOUTH US FOR NO REASON! THATS JUST DISRESPECTFUL!" I called out.

I was honestly surprised I didn't have an arrow in my throat. "AND YOUR NAME IS WRONG! IT SHOULD BE HUNTRESSES NOT HUNTERS!" I yelled before turning around and sprinting away back towards the other. "Hurry before they try and kill us!" I said quickly I ran past them, they ran after me.

Once we all made it well out of range of the tree line, we all stopped to take a breather. As I was hunched over trying to get some air, Luke patted my shoulder, making me look over to his smiling face. "You're awesome. That was awesome." he laughed out, making me smile.

"I didn't want them to have the...last word...especially of it was that." I breathed out before plopping on the ground. Thalia sat down beside me, a huge grin on her face.

She slugged me playfully in the shoulder, "The church mouse roars. And holy crap that was a roar." she said, making us all laugh.

It wasn't until an arrow embedded into the ground a few feet away that we started running again. To this day I'm certain that they did that to scare the living crap out of us.

{¥£€}

It took months, but we were finally here. At the home stretch. Rain was pouring down as thunder snapped through the sky. All of us were running like bats out of hell, Luke and Thalia held up the rear of the group with their weapons while I carried Annabeth in my arms as fast as I could from them.

The monsters.

I couldn't tell what the hell was fallowing us but at this point? I didn't even care because at this rate? I wasn't entirely sure we would make it.

We climbed up the grassy hill, Grover taking the lead. As soon as we reached the top, I put Annabeth down, we all stares at the camp for a second. I didn't know what to expect honestly but it wasn't exactly this. A summer camp.

I risked my life, left my home, and went with four strangers to go to a summer camp?

"Grover. Explain please." I asked, turning to the half goat boy.

"I said it was w camp, what else did you expect?" He asked before the roar of a Hellhound echoed over the side of the hill. We looked back and couldn't belive it.

The darkness made their shapes hard to make out, but there was a lot of them to be sure. More than I've ever seen in my life. That's when I realized something. We led them here, the five of us? Our scent must have led them here right to the camp...and it was night, they were all asleep.

I looked over at the others, Luke, Thalia and Grover all had a look of horror on their faces and I'm pretty sure that I did too. But Thalia...Thalia looked clam. She looked at all of us, and I saw sadness in her eyes. "Grover. Take them all back to camp...in staying here."

"What!?" We all said at once in shock.

"I'm going to stay here and hold them off while you all get help." She said, taking out her spear and shield, readying herself for a fight.

"No! I'm not leaving you!" Annabeth sId stubbornly.

"Same here." I said, I don't care if I have to kill a Cyclops with stick I was now going to leave Thalia.

But before I could say anything else, Luke grabbed me and lifted me up over his shoulders and ran with me, Grover doing the same with Annabeth, with tears in his eyes. "Luke! Put me down we can fight! We can-" I started as o stated at Thalia with horror.

But she smiled. She smiled one of the saddest smiles I ever seen. Because she knew that she wasn't going to survive this. But we were, and that was what mattered to her. She turned back over the hill, "I AM THALIA GRACE DAUGHTER OF ZUSE! AND YOU WILL NOT HURT MY FRIENDS TODAY! YEEEEHHH!" she shouted with a battle cry as she charged forward.

My vision blurred with tears. I cried that night, along with the others.

{¥£€}

That was a month ago. And the wound was still fresh. I was sitting outside the Hermes cabin, I wore a pair of jeans and the orange camp half-blood tee shirt. I had a break between activities, next one was archery which I wasn't half bad at I'm proud to say. I looked up to the hill, I couldn't help but frown. Standing up, I made my way past the center of the cabin grounds. The cabins in place so from above it was shaped into a large omega symbol.

The camp itself was massive, I didn't know how many campers we had here but it had to be well over three dozen. The most populated was the Hermes cabin, it was where I was staying at the moment. See, after you arrive at camp you become 'claimed' by your godly parent, Annabeth was calmed just today, a silver owl hologram appearing over her head.

I was happy for her, Luke already knew his father was Hermes so he was staying in the cabin I was bunking in for now. But see, the thing that bugs me is that it's also the place where the lesser gods' kids stay at. I don't see why they can't just make some cabins for them too...plus the words 'lesser God' sounds weird together.

Making my way up the hill, I stopped in front of the tree. Thalia's tree.

She died...well...ok, let me explain.

Thalia got hurt when she was fighting the monsters. Like...not getting better hurt. So Zeus in his all mighty wisdom, he thought sarcastically, turned her into a tree. So technically speaking she's alive, but...sorta.

The tree also casts a protective barrier around the campgrounds, so that no monster can get into the camp and no one would have to share her fate. "Took you all long enough." I muttered, I heard a rumble in the distance. "Yeah you heard me." I challenged. What was he gonna do smite me?

Then again he did turn his daughter into a tree.

I shook those thoughts Dom my head as I stopped in front of the tree. It was a large pine tree, still in its young years. "Hey Thalia." I greeted, sitting down in front of the base of the tree with my legs crossed. "How are you doing? Good I hope?" I asked. There was nothing but silence obviously, as far as we knew, there was I way to know if Thalia could even hear us, let alone communicate in any way.

"So I don't know if she told you or not, but Annabeth got claimed today. Athena, guess you were right about her being smart for a seven year old." I said, I imagine her laughing at that, and a good old 'told you so' from her but it doesn't come. "Oh yeah, Charion wasn't that surprised either. She seemed way to happy to get out of the Hermes cabin. Gods help the Stoll brothers, they've been on her list since that dumb little spider prank. Should have seen her, me and Luke hand to pry her off one of them." I said, thinking back to how Annabeth went for their necks.

As for Charion, he was in charge of the camp, Charion looked like a middle aged Ma with combed hair and a trimmed bested. Oh and his lower body was a horse. That's right, the head of the camp is a centaur, I'd like to see what any other camp can compete with on that front.

"So...what's it like being a tree?" I asked. Silence...I sighed. "I miss you Thalia...I miss talking to you. I miss seeing your face, your smile, your laugh...everything." I admitted, I never had the guts to tell her these things to her face. It was just a little crush, she saved my life, this beautiful, brace, selfless girl saved my life.

But saying it now just made the heartache return.

I bowed my head, "Thalia I'm sorry...in so sorry I couldn't help you...I'm sorry for being so fricking useless." I spat out, as tears gathered in the corner of my eyes. I wiped the wetness away, I was never going to cry in front of her tree. If she could hear me, see me even, I don't want her to see me like that. "Them again I didn't have a weapon with me...which reminds me, I had sword fighting yesterday. Luke said I did pretty well, I also tried a axe, a mace, a spear, and a dagger. I sucked at the dagger though. It was too small." I admitted.

I smiled at what I said next, "Luke seems to think since I'm kinda well at a bunch of stuff I may be a Hermes kid. It'd be cool to have him as a big step brother...but like you said, we're all family." I said happily. I really took that to heart, Annabeth was like the little know it all sister I never had...and maybe not wanted. Luke was an Awesome brother figure as well, but Thalia...well you kinda know how I feel about her by now I guess.

"Still haven't been claimed by any of them yet...not gonna lie if kinda sucks. The Hermes cabin is super crowded. I would ask if I could have bunked with you in the Zeus cabin but I'm pretty sure your dad would smite me." I admitted.

I folded my legs together and held them close to my chest with my chin resting on my knees. "You know...if I meet my godly parent, I'm not sure what I'll do. I mean part of me would like to just ignore them, see how they like it. But the other part of me says to be better than that...I don't know how you and your dad would have gotten along...but you know I would tell you to cut the guy some slack, and that your not the only one whose been there...but if you hit him I would get it." There was another rumble in the sky.

This coming from the guy who castrated his own father. Ugggh.

I stood up, swiping some grass off my body before speaking. "I better get going. I got the rock climbing wall and I figure this time I'll only get slightly roasted...you see you later Thalia." I said, backing away from the tree before turning down the hill and walking towards the climbing wall.

And when I came out on the other side of the wall with barely any burns and a slightly charred shirt? I couldn't help but muse the idea that Thalia made sure I didn't get burned.

{¥£€}

Ok now I'm pissed.

Two weeks ago I was fine with not being claimed. But a month ago I arrived at camp, nearly having gotten killed in the process, and still nothing! What am I an embarrassment!? For crying out loud everyone here is proof that they've been with a mortal at some point, and that's not counting how many there have been overall.

And the disgusting part is that most of the kids in the same cabin are around the same age...I would really rather not think about that...

I turned over in my bed, I was angry, I've been angry for the past two days. Luke noticed of course, but I can't dump all this on him. It's not like he would get it, he knew who his father was before he even came here. I felt guilty about the jealousy I felt, I was happy that Luke got to be with his step brothers. I really was, but...I didn't have that.

I pulled the covers off me and looked around, everyone was asleep...I reached under my bed and grabbed my bag, looking inside I made sure I had ev everything before I put on my shirt, pants, and socks.

Picking up my shoes, I passed through the isle of beds as quietly as I possibly could. I heard that Hermes kids could just know when someone was planning on doing something, I didn't exactly believe it but I've seen it happen.

When I made it to the door, I slowly opened it up and slipped through the crack before I turned the knob and pulled it back to its original place and turning the knob back into place. I took a cautious look up to the sky, Charion told us that there were harpies that patrolled the grounds after dark and they've attacked campers in the past.

Demigod life is bad when your at risk of being attacked at the one place that's a safe haven. I slipped my shoes on and took off through the grass, occasionally darting my head up to see of the harpies were about to dive bomb me. Thankfully I made it to the top of half blood hill without any bird ladies trying to kill me.

I looked at the tree. I let out a sad sigh. "Hey Thalia...look I'm just going to say it. I'm leaving camp." I said. I imagine of this was her human form she would slap the ever loving crap out of me for just saying that. "Look it's just...back at the church? I didn't feel like I belonged there, and that was find, all demigods have to feel that way, I've talked around, I know they have." I explained.

"But...since I got here? Annabeth and Luke have been there for me, Grover too. But I haven't been claimed, is my godly parent really that ashamed of me that they wouldn't...I felt out of place before. But here...I feel like I'm unwanted...and I think that you of all people know what it's like to feel that." I said sadly.

When I expected silence, I was more than surprised to find it broken. "Yeah she would." I whirled my head around to see Luke, his hands folded in his pockets and a sad look on his face. "You suck at sneaking around you know." he said.

"Luke..."

"Are you seriously going to leave?" He asked. "After everything, after all those risks we took, after what Thalia sacrificed!? Your just going to leave?!" he asked, the bitterness in his voice making me flinch. Luke realized his mistake, his anger faded back into sadness. "Vince you can't go...you got me and Annabeth." he offered.

"And I wish that was enough like, gods, I think about that every day! But...I came with you guys because I thought I could finally find somewhere I feel at home...but with Thalia gone...you two having your brothers and sisters...I feel more alone than ever." I admitted.

I bowed my head, I expected Luke to scream and shout at me. To tell me something that would make my guilt validated and cause me to stay. But he simply sighed. "Ok." I looked up at him, a look of painful admittance, "Look Vince I get it...Thalia would too...just...if you get in trouble? Come back ok?" he asked before pulling me into a hug. I returned it, patting him on the back as o did.

We pulled away, Luke giving me a smirk that he must have picked up from his dad's side. "Annabeth is gonna murder you, you know that right?" he asked. I grimaced, the daughter of Athena would most likely kill me when she saw me again.

"Do me a solid and tell her you drive me out?" I suggested.

"No." He said smirking.

"Crap...but seriously? Don't tell her, she wouldn't get it. I don't think she would anyway. She ran away for different reasons than Thalia did." I said, recalling how Annabeth told them of how her parents were.

Luke nodded, "Take care man."

I nodded before turning around and walking down the hill.

{¥£€}

My back slammed into the brick wall behind me before I fell onto the pavement.

New York City. Always wanted to come here. Just not when there's a Cyclops trying to kill me. Looking up, I rolled out of the way of his club as it hit the ground where I was just at.

This all started when I was walking down the street, looking for a place to eat when I saw him in the middle of the street. Your probably wondering why didn't everyone else on the street see him as well? You see, the gods are smart enough to know that if people see the real monsters? The world's biggest secret would be out.

So they have the Mist.

What it does is alter people's perception of what they see when there's a mister, demigod, or something else that can't be possible. For example, when our group went to eat, Annabeth put her knife down on the table, before I could earn her the sever commented on how nice her phone was.

I couldn't imagine what the mortals must have seen when I was running away from the cyclops, but at a guess? A kid running from an huge overweight basketball player into a dead end alley.

I stood up and grabbed a trash can lid and threw it like a frisbee at his head. "Ugh! Stupid demigod throw pop can at head!" he bellowed out. I looked around for my weapon, I wasn't stupid enough to leave camp with no weapon after all. I looked between the Monster's feet, on the ground was my dagger, around the size of a bayonet.

When the cyclops raised his club again dived forward and grabbed the knife, swinging out to the back of his foot, slicing through the tendon and making him cry out in pain as he collapsed backwards. I quickly stood up and jumped up onto him and ran up his chest before plunging the knife into his chest cavity, unfortunately the blade wasn't long enough to pierce his heart.

"Crap." I muttered as the cyclops grabbed me with both his hands, I only had one hand free and his hands were squeezing the air out of my lungs.

"Squeeze life from you!" The cyclops wheezes out. My mind was racing, the pain of by ribs straining from the pressure he was causing was making me bite back a scream.

Think! What can I do? The blade was in his chest and even if I kicked it in to the hilt it may not hit the heart!

Pulling my foot back I kicked the bottom of the Knicks, making his grip loosen and make me fall to his chest. I reached around, trying to find something to grab and smack him with, I was not going to die here by a stupid cyclops!

Wait...of course!

I reeled my hand back before reaching out and grabbing the cyclops' eye and pulled. With one hard, gross, squishy, gross pull, I yanked the eye out of it's socket. "GEYYYYGHHHH!" he let go of me with a wail as he covered his eye hole with both his hands.

I quickly grabbed the knife and yanked it out before plunging it through his hand through his hands, into his head. The mass of flesh beneath me faded into golden dust. I got the pavement again, gasping for air I rolled over into my back. "That was...so gross...ewwwww." I said, I just grabbed a eyeball.

"That was a fairly gruesome sight." I rolled over onto my knees, my hand reaching for my knife. At the end of the allyway was a middle aged man, he had a shared jaw with s goatee around his mouth. He had neatly combed back black hair with the sides greeting slightly.

He wore a simple dark blue jacket with a few pouches on it with a white shirt underneath and a red scarf with a gold trim on the edge of the scarf. He looked normal enough, but I met Dionysus at camp. He was supposed to keep an eye on the campers as some form of punishment, but he was just a normal looking guy too.

And this guy could see through the Mist, so there couldn't be something normal about this guy. "Yeah...it was." I replied, glancing at the ripped out eye. I heard that some monsters left behind 'trophies' that a demigod can keep. But I did not want to keep that.

"So what are you doing all the way from camp?" he asked. I raised my knife, the man didn't seem intimidated, "Young man, I understand you just killed a Cyclopes, but I assure you I mean you no harm." he said. The logical side of my brain was telling me to keep my guard up.

But being a demigod was about trusting your gut as well as your head. And my gut was telling me he was being truthful. So I put the knife back in the sheath. "I didn't exactly fit in there...decided to try my luck outside camp." I admitted.

He raised an eye at that, "And tell me, how has that worked out for you?" he asked.

"About as good as me killing whatever tried to kill me first." I responded. Before he could respond, my stomach let out a low growl. "...well that just ruined my look." I muttered out.

The man looked at me with some concern, "When was the last time you ate?" he asked curiously.

I was silent for a few seconds before speaking. "Yesterday." I admitted. I had lost a bit of weight since I went with Thalia, and it wasn't exactly by choice.

The man took a step forward, "Tell you what. I have food at home, you come with me, get something to eat, stay the night, and you can head back to camp." he suggested.

"I'm not going back to camp." I said stubbornly.

The man looked at me strangely, "Oh? Why?" he asked curiously. I didn't meet his eyes, either I don't tell him and he drags me back to camp, nevermind that I didn't want to go back, how would that even look? A ten year old being brought back after running away.

"My friend was a demigod. She got turned into a tree by her dad who...could have helped out more." I said choosing my words carefully. Grover always told me that names had power when it came to gods.

The man's eyes widened with surprise briefly before he looked at me with understanding. "Ah...I see...you knew Thalia," He said, I must have looked more surprised than I felt, "I'm not a god, I can understand why you would think that. But Im not."

I somehow felt a bit of relief at that, "So your not a god...demigod?" I asked.

He chuckled, "No, no, I'm mortal." he said as I finally got up onto my feet. Now I was curious, a mortal that could see through the mist? I never heard of anything like that.

"So. You still want that meal?" he asked. I thought for a moment, worst case I could just sneak out of his place before he wakes up.

"Sure...I'm Vincent." I introduced, realizing I didn't say my name before.

The man gave a kind smile, "Stephen Strange." he introduced. I looked at him blankly for a moment, "Yes that is my real name. Now come on, my place is a few blocks away." he said, turning around with me fallowing right behind him.

{¥£€}

Strange led me up to the front gates of a estate type place. It had a low stone wall surrounding the perimeter with metal spikes pointing up from the top of the stones. As soon as I walked into the property though, I felt a strange feeling was over me.

The closest I could come to describing it would be comparing it to the air around Thalia when she got upset. She smelled like ozone when that happened, and a font of electricity in the air. I still felt the power that was behind the electricity, but that spark, the smell, it was absent.

I fallowed him up to the door when I noticed something. "Um...where's the handle?" I asked. The door was made of simple wood. The entire house seemed to be made of stone with the top floor having a slanted roof with a large round window on it facing upwards towards the sky.

Strange simply walked up to the door and knocked, it opened a second later. On the inside was a man around Strange's age, he was asain, had a bald head but a fit build. He wore a traditional Chinese shirt, pants, and karate shoes. It was green with what looked line diamonds stitching. It too had a golden edge to it. "Ah, Doctor, always glad to see you return." he said holding open the door for him. When he noticed me, I felt a slight urge to shrink, "Ah, a guest?" he asked.

Strange nodded, "Yes, Vincent, this is Wong. He's my servant, if you need anything don't be afraid to ask." he said, the servant nodding in agreement.

Entering the house, I turned back as the door closed when I noticed that the door didn't have a handle on the inside either. "What the-how did you open the door?" I asked.

Wong and strange stopped and looked at me. The servant looked at strange with a slight smirk, "He's observant." Wong said.

I turned to face them, my hand drifting to my dagger, only to find it not there. "Ok what's going on? You see through the mist, your not a god, Demigod, or a monster. So what are you?" I asked, did I seriously walk into the same trap they used for Hansel and Gretel?

Strange raised a hand, holding my knife, "Vincent there's no reason to be nervous, I assure you we mean you no harm." he said before tossing my knife at me. The knife flew right time hand, I looked at it with shock, strange didn't even true it that hard.

"You still haven't answered my question." I pointed out. I wasn't about to let him get off not telling me anything just because he knows a few tricks.

Wong and Strange glanced at one another before Stephen talked. "As I said before I'm not a god, or a demigod. I am mortal. In a sense." he explained cryptically. "Vincent, who do you think is the one who made the Mist? The barrier between the works of mortals and the world of the gods?" he asked.

I shrugged, "The gods? I mean I don't know which one but..."

The man rolled his eyes, "I suppose they would have you believe that. In actually it was my master. Decades ago he put up the mystical barrier that shields the gods world from the mortals." he explained as he turned around and walked further into the house.

The parlor was huge, a grand staircase led up to the second level with two hallways to my left and right, and a pair of doors on either side of the wall beneath the raising of the second level. I fallowed him and Wong through one of the doors, "My master, the Ancient One, taught me in the ways of the mystic like him."

To be honest, I wasn't that surprised, I've seen magic before. "Thalia had a bracelet that turned into her shield, and Charion said that my shift should read something different to mortals." I said.

"It says you work at a strawberry patch." Wong said.

I looked down at my orange tee shirt. Really wish I could change that, I mean it's a good cover but...that's kinda lame.

Strange shook his head. "That is a form OF magic, think of it as a subject. The Mist is one of the greatest illusion spells ever cast. Bit there are other types of spells, charms, incantations, and much more." he explained as we entered a living room area, a sofa and a large comfy chair sat across from one another in front of a fireplace, a coffee table between the seats. I sat on the couch as Strange took a seat in the chair.

The fire illuminated the room, casting shadows of the furniture onto the walls when we walked in. "Ok but what about Hecate? She's the Goddess of magic." I asked. A few of the campers in the Hermes cabin were her children, they knew how to pull tricks but there weren't any magical classes or activities at Camp.

Strange nodded, "A good question, she wields it, controls it, but she also produces it." he explained as Wong left the room. I didn't come pelt understand him and he could tell, "Alright, think if it like this, magic is power. And there must be something that produces it. Now, it can't be created, or destroyed, but Hecate, along with many other people things, even places channel it." he explained.

"So...she's like a Powerplant. Providing magic to the world?" I asked.

Strange smiled, "A good analogy."

I ran my hand over my face, this was a little much to wrap my head around. "But why tell me all of this?" I asked.

Strange smirked, "Why do you think I can use magic?" he asked.

I sat there and thought for a minute, I've seen Thalia manipulate the Mist once or twice. I assumed she was capable of doing that because she was the daughter of one of the big three. But Strange was mortal...

"Anyone can do it...including me?" I asked, starting to catch on.

Strange stood from his chair, "If you don't want to go back to the Camp, that is your choice. But if I let you walk out of this house, and you died? That would be on my hands, so if you won't head back to camp? Then I offer you to stay here with me, to learn magic." he offered.

I was stunned to say the least, after a few seconds I managed to find my voice once again. "Why me? I mean I'm a demigod sure but...I can't be the first you met." I pointed out. The way he acted and offered to send me back to camp was proof of that.

"Honestly Vincent?" He asked, I nodded. "I see that you have potential. When I came to my master, I was nothing but a bitter idiot. But he saw the same potential in me that I see in you." he said, the tone of his voice showing honesty. "The choice is yours." he offered up.

I thought, I thought more about this more than anything I ever done in my life. I thought lore about this than going with Thalia, Luke and Annabeth with Grover to camp. I was useless to help Thalia...but if I learned...I could never be useless again.

"Alright...can you teach me?" I asked.

The doctor smiled, "Yes I can. But first, you need something to eat." he said just as Wong entered with a tray of food.

"He said yes?"

"He said yes." Strange replied. Pulling the lid off the tray, my jaw dropped at what Wong brought me, a burger, spices fries, a milkshake, and a Chocolate brownie for desert. All my favorites.

"But...how-?" I started.

"Who do you think made the lunch area for the camp?" Strange asked as Wong Andes him a drink of water that changed from clear to green a second after touching it.

Magic is real, and it's the greatest thing ever to me.

AN: Ok. Before you start.

"Avatarconner-"

Before. You. Start.

"What. The. SHIT?!"

Ok ok, look, I know I got a ton of stories going on right now but I said earlier this year, that I would not be sticking to a schedule. I know I haven't updated how to train your avatars in over a year. I know man of tomorrow volume 1 is unfinished and RWBY V4 is around the corner, and Star Wars sentinel is...well that one is kinda just for me and I'm a little sad no one is reading it.

But! I am not giving up on ANY OF MY STORIES. Ok? Ok.

Now that's out of the way with, I love Percy Jackson. I love every book, every character, this was and still is to me what Harry Potter was to thousands, millions even, of people. Now I'm not dyslexic or have ADHD, I actually do have something but that's not important, but this series showed me it doesn't matter what mental handicap you have or not, you can still be a hero.

I own every book on the series and the sequel series, which I'll admit, I like the first series better.

Also I published this under Percy Jackson only be used I could not find for the life of me a doctor strange tag on the crossovers tab. Sorry.

Now your probably wondering why go with Doctor strange. Honestly I read a bunch of his stuff and I found o could mix it well with Percy Jackson. And with the new movie coming out soon, I thought 'what the Hades'...bad joke I know.

So until next time guys.


	2. Chapter 2

Best Internship Ever.

Five years. Five long, wonderful, painful, astoundingly mind blowing years later I knew I made the right decision. It was hard at first, reading English is hard enough, but trying to read Ancient Medieval charms was something else entirely. But with time I managed to learn it as well.

I easily read through the Ancient Greek books though, it was almost scary how fast I learned those tomes. But I still had so much more to learn...and I loved it!

I must sound like complete nerd right now but trust me, when you love what you do it's not that hard to get excited about it.

Now before you ask, no I don't use a wand. Not its true like in the movies, you can't just say a magic spell and or charm and anything you want will actually happen. You have to know what the effect will be beforehand for one, otherwise nothing will happen, you also need to pour the right amount of power into it.

Too little and it'll fizz out or just not even be cast. Too much and it could blow up in your face. And I'm talking from experience, first time shooting a bolt of energy I roasted my eyebrows off. Thankfully they've grown back, but after that I made sure to put just enough to every spell, charm, summon, and enchantment.

As for casting the spell? Well I have to move my hands and fingers into certain positions. I'll have to admit that Strange makes it look easy, and this is from a a guy who has nerve damage in his hands.

See, before he was the sorcerer supreme, he was actually a neurosurgeon. But after s car accident without him wearing his seatbelt, his hands were so damaged he'd never be able to pick up a scalpel again. It was honestly a little heartbreaking, but when Stephan explained how much of a jerk he was, how he only took rich clients for fame? I could see that in the long run it was for the better.

So your probably wondering what I do? Well you see, I'm not exactly ready enough to tag along with doc on some of his more extravagant adventures. On more than one occasion he's disappeared for weeks and returned dripping with ectoplasm. And that was one of the less weird things he's been covered in.

So I usually do the day to day stuff, like a Intern. So what does that entail?

Well...

{¥£€}

"Ok. Did not expect to find this." I said, looking around. The ground beneath my feet was covered with purple grass, stretching onwards towards the green sunrise. I looked down at myself, making sure I was still wearing what I was when I came here. I had in a pair of grey sneakers, light brown cargo pants, and a blue zip up hoodie with the black shirt underneath.

I stepped forward, glancing down towards the ground to see the grass move out of the way of my foot. "Ok, so where are you?" I muttered to myself before I heard a tiger roar behind me. I turned around to see a giant ten foot tiger, instead of being covered with fur, it was overdid by brown leaves and the stripes being branches and the eyes pulsating with apples.

...yeah I should remind you that my life has gotten Very, VERY, wired since I ledge camp. Looking back? Camp half blood must have been the most normal part of my life...wow thinking that really puts my life in perspective.

I brushed those thoughts aside as the wood towered lowered itself closer to the ground and circled around me. "Ok kitty cat, I know you shouldn't be here, you probably do to, so just leave and-" I started calmly before it pounds forward. "Oh crap!"

I dived out of the way as it's nails cut into the ground, making brown fizzy water erupt from the ground into the creature's, making it bat else at at it's face with it's paws, the thorns for it's nails retracting back into it's paws.

Ok think, cat made out of leaves, thorns and wood. How do I scare him off? I thought as I held out my hand, purple mist swirled around my hand until it became solid metal. "Look just because I don't want to hurt you doesn't mean I won't defend myself." I warned as leather wrapped around the metal. In my hand was now a battle ax.

It was a dual bladed weapon, it was about the size of a normal fire axe but the blades were three times bigger. "Leave or I will start chopping." I threatened.

The beast growled, popping it's claws once again before inning forward on all fours. If didn't pounce this time, I reeled the axe back as it raised it's paw. As the thorns came down I swing, cutting right through the paw, it's claws cutting the ground on either side of me.

I quickly slicked through the wrist of the cat, making it feel back in pain as it hobbled away on its tree legs. I could only watch however as roots grew from the stump and reformed a paw with no leaves covering it. I groaned, "Well isn't that peachy?" I asked.

I needed to come up with a plan, but I couldn't do that with the cat on my butt. I glanced down at the ground, as i closed in again, I cut into the ground with my axe, causing a Geyser of brown soda to spray right into the cat, making it recoil back. Every time it got close I repeated the action. I couldn't keep this up though, I felt the ground starting to deflate.

Ok ok think, axe can't cut down the tree so how do you...of course! Fire!

I put my palm up against the blade, "By the Hot Flames of Horth...Horthmul!" I stuttered out, making sure I said the right name, the blade gaining glyphs across the body up to the blades where they were ignited in flames. As the cat came at me again, I stepped back out of the way, grazing it's leg.

The Flames ignited a few leaves, the cat panicked, it rolled around trying to put out the flames. As it was distracted, I used my empty hand, holding down my thumb and pinky, I drew a circle in the air, behind the cat a tear in the air opened, "Go on! Back!" I shouted, swinging the axe menacingly, making it back into the portal after it doused the flames.

When it was all the way in, I closed the portal. I let out a breath of relief as the axe disappeared. "Ok. That it...looks like." I said with a shrug before shutting my eyes. As my form faded from the field when I felt normal once again I opened them. Looking around my new surroundings I smiled, the kid was gonna be fine.

Now you must be confused, I don't blame you.

See, hundreds of people deal with magic every day without really realizing it. Most of the time it's nothing that you notice, sometimes it can actually be good for you, but other times it can be bad. Usually it can be something minor, a headache for no reason, being tired all day, stuff like that.

Usually they move on and head to another after a while. In fact most of these things can be felt with by Mexicans if you can believe it. But every once in a while one will stay and fester, let's just say that can lead to problems.

Doc must have a dozen or so of these a year. That was until I had the idea to set up a website to contact us for when normal doctors couldn't help. Now we had double that number and we're saving just as many people. This a simple memory parasite, they take the form of something the host finds familiar and takes that form.

What I want to know is where on earth a cat tree came from.

In the bed in front of me was a small six year old girl, she had fallen into a coma after having dizzy fits, headaches, and then the doctors finding nothing wrong with her brain, they contacted Doc to take a look. After finding what was wrong he sent me to treat her.

As the door opened, I saw the parents peek inside, I could feel them checking in on me since o arrived. I completely understand of course, I even offered them them to stay if they felt more comfortable with that but they declined.

"I just finished. She should be fine." I said, standing up from the floor I looked over as the girl stirred from her slumber. I caught sight of her stuffed animal. A small tiger plush doll with marker coloring over the stripes and fur.

Oooooh, that explains it. I thought as the little girl woke up. Her mother and father brushed past me with looks of joy on their faces. I smiled fondly at the happy family. The mother looked at me, "Is she going to be ok?"

I nodded, "She'll be perfectly fine. These things happen more often than you'd think. She'll be fine, she may develop a slight headache but that's perfectly natural. It should fade after a while." I said. I wasn't as good as Strange when it came to the medical side of the job, 'after a while' could mean anywhere between a week or two to a few months but there wasn't any permanent damage.

"How much do we owe Doctor Strange?" the father asked, reaching for what must have been his checkbook.

I shook my head, "Not a penny. We're a non profit practice." I explained. Public wise we were a alternative medical practice. And since we didn't exactly have a need for money, we were a kind of charity as well.

"There has to be something." The mother offered before their daughter held out a bag, reading the label I saw it was a bag of sunflower seeds.

The girl gave me a smile before I took them, "Perfect. I was in the mood for a snack." I said happily as I put the bag in my pocket. As I walked out of the room, I took one last look back and smiled.

A few minutes later I was out the sidewalk, when they first contacted us we were a little surprised to find just how close the family was to us. It was just three blocks away from the Sanctum Santorum.

The Sanctum was more than just a really nice looking house, it was also the center for all magic in the north western hemisphere. Why you ask? Well before the house stood there, it was part of a satanic ritual site, before that it was a church that burned down, and before that it was an Indian burial ground, and before that...well I'm not sure exactly but you get the idea.

It's also over a fault line, one of the most powerful mystic hotspots you can be at.

Walking across the street, I passed the wall separating the Santorum and the rest of the world. In more sense than one. Taking the key out of my pants pocket, I unlocked the gate and opened it. I felt the familiar feeling of magic wash over me, I smiled at the feeling.

"Man it's good to be home." I said, walking up the porch to the door, I made a pulling motion with my hand, making the door open in towards the house. Entering the foyer, I went around the staircase towards the kitchen, "Wong? We're are you?" I called out as I passed through a few doors.

The sanctum was a lot more large inside than outside, there were about twelve guest rooms aside from mine, Strange's, and Wong's rooms on the second floor. The first floor had the living room, dining room, kitchen, and drawing room.

The third floor was where all the weird stuff happened. There was Strange's study, the Library, the meditation chamber, and the artifact room with all the mystic items Strange has collected from around the world. Then there was also the Window of the Worlds, the large glass that you could see from the purpose with the mark of the Vishanti on it.

See, the Vishanti are some of the first to use magic. They weren't gods of course, but they were more than normal human beings...well they still are. It's confusing, they're still around but they only appear when they're needed.

Entering the kitchen, I found Wong storing a pot of stew, "Hey Wong, how's it going?" I asked him as he turned to look at me, giving me a friendly smile. I'll admit that I found it strange that the Sorcerer Supreme needed a servant, but by now I understood why.

Honestly Strange and I were so busy that of Wong wasn't around, we would be wearing week old clothes and order takeout every night we were home.

"Vincent, good to see you back home. How was the patient?" he asked as he dabbed some spice into the soup.

I pulled out the bag of sunflower seeds and took a handful put before eating them. "Pretty simple, so where's doc at?" I asked, swallowing the snack. Wong took out the ladle he was housing and held it out to me fore a taste test, taking a sip of the stew I let the taste settle. "Maybe a little salt?" I suggested.

Wong added the salt, "The Doctor is up in his study, he asked me to tell you he needs to see you." he said, I stuffed the bag back in my pocket and thanked him before making my way back into the foyer and walking up the stairs. Walking around the second level, I entered the third floor stairwell.

Entering the third floor, I looked out to the window on my left, shining out to the city on my right was a routines of doors that led into different rooms within the circle. On the left however were a few doors leading to some more...weird places. One of them was a door to Olympus, the door had thunderbolts on it to signify that, and another led to Atlantis. That one looked like a bank vault.

Like I said, weird.

Finding the door to Strange's study own, I entered to see the Sorcerer Supreme sitting behind his desk reading from a book. Unlike from when I first met him, Strange had on a long sleeve shirt with a white symbol on the front of it, with black pants and the cloak of levitation around his shoulders and the collar over his head.

"Hey Doc. You wanted to see me?" I asked, walking over and taking a seat in front of the desk as he lowers the book onto the desk.

"Vincent, I assume that purging the girl was a success?" He asked, I nodded, making him smile. "Good, your eighth time on your own with a case like that, I must be doing something right." he said, making me roll my eyes. Doctor Strange was a good teacher, he also had the patience of a fricking Saint to deal with me.

I wanted to know everything at first, but no matter how hard I pressed or pleaded he kept me learning at a pace. By now, I only knew a fraction of what he did, and couldn't wait to learn it as well.

"So why did you want to see me?" I asked curiously.

The doctor closed the book and skid it aside. "I received a Iris Message from Camp Half-Blood today, Charion sends his best." he said making me smile. Charion had checked in on me every once in a while, he said that I always had a place at camp. Luke even messaged me once to see how I was doing, but Annabeth...she must be super pissed off at me.

Luke said that she was mad when I left but she would get over it. But if she was mad at me? I completely understood why, I left a month or so after Thalia was taken...she lost two of us in such a short time. But I belonged here at the sanctum, I knew that, and maybe one day she'd understand that as well.

"He asked me to retrieve a sword for him, he wouldn't say why but something tells me he has a good reason for wanting it." he said. I nodded in understanding, some artifacts were a tad too powerful and dangerous to be left out in the world. We store some of them here but a good amount of them go to the attic at the big house at camp.

I still remember when I had to get a old typewriter that Athena used to own...lets just say that you can't exactly tell people why you need into their private storage rooms in my like if work. I still don't think I can go to the Times Magazine office. Specially after what I did to that one janitor...

"Unfortunately he doesn't know where the sword is. Only the name, Anaklusmos." He said.

"Doesn't that mean Riptide?" I asked, recognizing the Greek pronunciation.

"Yes. And that's all we know. As far as my research has showed, there's been no mention of it in any Greek myths." he explained. "It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack." he added, rubbing his eyes with his fingers. "And worse yet...there's something that needs my attention."

I raised a eye at that, he took it as his cue to continue, "Hades sent for me." Said. The god's name alone made my blood boil, he was the one who sent monster after monster after Thalia and the rest of us. It wasn't until later I found out, and when I did I think I used every swear word I know to curse at him. Either he didn't hear me, he just didn't care, or he was used to it. Or maybe all three.

Either way, I disliked him to say the least. "And what does he want?" I asked, not hiding the anger in my voice.

Strange have me a look of concern, "Someone had penetrated the underworld a few days ago. Uninvited, and without his knowledge." he said, making my eyes widen, see when people tell you to go to hell, it's not exactly simple as that. Dying is the easy part, but there are literally thousands of beings guarding it so you can't sneak in, the underworld is where they decide WHERE you go. And some people just have trouble waiting in line.

"So he wants you to find the guy who broke in?" I guessed. See, Doctor Strange was...I he's still a doctor, just not medically speaking. He helps each of them out but they also heed his words, I don't know it's because he's earned their respect, or if he's actually just as, if not more, powerful than them.

I'm really hoping it's the former because in my stay here, I have on occasion pissed him off...like the time I tried to fly the Cloak and ended up trashing the second floor.

"No. He says he knows who it is. But he wants me to find out how it was stolen." he explained, making me nod my head in understanding, he would rather make sure this not happen again and then find who was responsible. "So while I attend to Hades, I need you to track down the sword." he explained.

I was a little surprised to say the least, I usually did the small stuff around the house. But this? This was like a quest. "O-ok...so how do I find this thing?" I asked.

Strange face a wary smile, "The same way we find everything else. Research."

...Vincent, Intern Supreme. Yep, that's my title everyone.

{¥£€}

I didn't hate doing research, yes dyslexia makes it hard to get through the books but it's it horrible. I could get halfway through a textbook sized book of if I wanted to. But it just gets tedious after a while.

I picked up every book in the Library on Greek myths and legends, I headed for my room. My room was a decent sized doom, it had a queen sized bed on the right wall eith the head against a small corner of the room beside the door. I was used to cramped spaces from traveling with Thalia and them, so it was a smear perfect fit for me.

On the other wall opposite of where my pillows of the bed was a Tv, standing atop my desk where I was currently sitting at, on the other side of the room was a closet containing all my belongings, magical walk in closest a were awesome I might add. And in the corner were the Windows.

See these windows were like the ones on the corner of house so you could walk up to and open, execpt these three windows opened up to three different places. One opened up to a snowy forest, another to a grassy field, and one to a tropical beach.

They weren't simply Windows neither, one step out and I was there. I'd sometimes go out and walk on the beach or something if the weather in New York was bad.

But instead of being on a sunny beach, I was in my room. Looking through the books word for word to find any mention of the sword, but so far nothing. At this point, I was torn between throwing the book aside and taking a minute or just powering through it.

Tossing it aside was sounding pretty good. But I wasn't sure if any of these books wouldn't try to eat me in my sleep.

I awoke to find one trying to swallow my foot once, long story.

As I turned the page, I saw a picture of a muscular man fighting a dragon with multiple heads. Hercules, he was one of my favorite heroes, he went through his twelve labors and didn't complain once, even if he knew it wasn't fair that he was forced to do them. Despite what you may think, he didn't really use a sword, he used a club to beat his enemies to death.

Elegant right? But the strange thing about the picture was that he was fighting with a sword, "Hmm..." I reached for the drawer of my desk and reached in, pulling out a magnifying glass before peering on the sword, his was bronze by the looks of it, and was double edged.

It could be the sword, but it just as easily may not be.

But it's not named. Not mentioned, in fact this is one of the only times I've seen him portrayed with a sword. Either way, it's kind of the only lead I have at the moment, and it's better than nothing.

The knock at the door drew my attention, Wong stepped in with a plate of food. "Your picking up the master's eating habits." he said with a small smile as he handed me the food.

I smiled gratefully at him, "Thanks Wong. Your a saint you know that?" I asked as I took a bite of the food.

The servant smiled knowingly, "So how goes your search?" he inquired. I lifted the book over my shoulder to him, he looked at the picture before nodding, "It could be."

"Yeah but it also may not be. Unless I ask the guy himself I don't think I'll know for sure." I said, leaning back in my chair. It was possible to commune with people who already passed on, but you have to know where they went afterwords. It's kinda like area code, if your looking for someone in the under world, it's not the same for looking for someone in the great beyond.

Plus Hercules may even still be around, "Well what do you do when you face something you don't understand?" Wong asked.

I shrugged, "I ask Strange for help, but even if he were here I'm not sure he could confirm it." I explained.

Wong smirked, "Who said anything about the Doctor?" he asked. I was confused of course, unless I talked to someone who was there and saw it there wasn't a way to confirm it. I could ask one of the gods for help, but me asking out of the blue? I can't see that working in my favor.

Plus I'm not exactly fond of the idea of being in their debt.

"Unless I can walk up to an immortal I don't see-" I stopped when I realized what he was getting at. "Aw crap."

The Hunter's of Artemis. It's possible one of them may be that old, but off chance, Artemis herself may know. And if I was going to be in any God or goddess debt? She would certainly not bd the worst. "I hate this. I don't want to talk to them, but I have to, so I will." I said as o got up from my desk and walked out the door with my food. "I'm going to eat first though."

{¥£€}

After filling up and getting my satchel, I fallowed Wong to the room of artifacts. It was here where we kept the Mystic artifacts that the Sorcerer Supreme has collected through the years. Past the glass display cases we stopped in front of a pen sitting on a pedestal.

The orb of Agamato was, for lack of a better term, a crystal ball. It allowed one to find almost anyone they wanted, unless they were being protected by magic. It was powerful because it could see into other dimensions as well, but any form or protection magic could block it's view.

"How's it go again?" I asked myself, "Umm...Orb of Agamatto, by the will of the Vishanti, I ask to see what I seek. I seek the Hunters of Artemis." I asked, the thing about magic objects, is you need to be nice and respectful. Otherwise they can...get agitated.

The crystal ball glowed before an image appeared of the earth, it zoomed in on the United States, then to the Midwest. Then to..."Ohio? Well I guess it makes sense. It's farmland there." I said with a shrug.

"Get back soon, and if your not back by tomorrow, be sure to call." Wong said, I couldn't help but smile and roll my eyes. The man was as much a mother hen as he was a servant.

"Ok Wong." I said before putting my left hand on the orb and holding let other out. I felt a wave of energy was through me as light came out my right palm and created a circular portal. Walking through it, I was no longer in the Sanctum, but in a heavily brushed forest.

As the portal closed behind me, I looked around, teleporting wasn't as easy as tv and movies make it look. It's never accurate and it takes a lot out of you. I could teleport maybe twice in a single day, any more and I'd probably pass out.

Thankfully the orb was what I used so this one was free. Unfortunately I was literally in the middle of nowhere, at least I thought that until I heard the sound of a car. Waking a few feet towards the sound, I pushed through a bush, I found that I wasn't as in the middle of nowhere as I thought.

There was a biker restaurant on the side of the road. Walking up the porch, I noticed a number of bikes lined up in front of the building. Please don't let anything happen to knock them all over and get the Hell's Angel's mad at me or something. Pushing the door open, I spotted the Hunters right out of the gate, they were the only group made up of all girls taking up six tables.

That and the deadly weapons on the table, for a second they looked like bunch of softball equipment, aluminum bats and softballs, it was a little weird. No one seemed to bat a eye at it either way.

Ok so how do I do this? Last time they kinda shot a arrow at me...maybe they won't recognize me? Please, please don't recognize me.

After a quick prayer to the Vishanti, I approached the group of girls. I felt over a dozen eyes locked onto me the moment I stepped forward. "Um...hi." I greeted, giving my best smile.

A few of them grabbed their bows, "I'm here to see if any of you know about Hercules' sword!" I sputtered out quickly. Now I didn't really have much to fear from them. I have a magic barrier protecting me, it's something I put on every day, but it's not very strong, plus starting a fight in a place like this just seems like a dumb move.

Unfortunately my outburst seemed to draw a few patrons glance but didn't pay any real mind to it. One of them looked at me with a particular look of disinterest, "Wait outside." she ordered.

It was either do what she said, or walk away with nothing. So I walked outside and waited outside, minutes passed as I waited. A few bikers came out and started up their bikes, as they rode away the girl who told me to wait, came out.

It took me a minute but I finally recognized her. Zoë Nightshade, the one who tried to recruit Thalia and Annabeth when we were all together. "...so are you going to stab me or talk to me?" I asked.

"Silence boy." Zoë stated bitterly. She stared at me, sizing me up. As she did, I waved my fingers around, casting a detection spell. It's nothing harmful, it just helps me read how someone feels towards me. Anger smells like something burning leaves, so it smelled like I was near a tree on fire. Her eyes widened, "Magic."

"Sorcery." I corrected. "I'm training with the Sorcerer Supreme. He sent me to find a sword called Anaklusmos. I figured since the Hunters have loved for hundreds of years, one of you may know where I can find it." I explained. As soon as I said the sword's name, her eyes widened and instead of burning leaves, I smelled a crisp whiff of salt. Fear.

"Why would I tell you?" she asked. I was more than tempted to rebuff her rudeness with some of my own. But I couldn't, for one as much as she deserved it Strange thought me to be a gentleman, and that would end this conversation here and now.

"Because I'm hoping you'll be willing to help me. Not because I'm a guy, or a demigod even. But because I'm another person." I explained, hoping that i could convince her.

She did look convinced. At all, "If I tell you were it is you'll get yourself killed."

...ok. I tried, I tried to be nice, "I won't." I said simply. She scoffed, "Look, you think I can't do it because I'm a guy? Fine, but I've spent the past five years learning from the goddamn Sorcerer Supreme, I live in a house that has nearly eaten me! Several times!" I proclaimed.

She raised a eye at that, "Really." she asked blankly.

"Yes. Really. So what? You send me there and I die? Fine. One less problem for you. I live? I get to live." I stated, crossing my arms over my chest. I may be a gentleman, but if Thalia taught me anything, it's to stand up for myself.

Zoë stared me down and I stared right back. I wasn't giving her one damn inch."Fine. Base of Mount Tamaplais, it's guarded by Landon. Fairwell. Boy." she answered as she went back inside to eat.

As I walked off, I couldn't help but think about Thalia. The pain was still there, I was useless then, now? I'd put up one hell of a fight with her...it makes me wonder if she had joined the hunt, would she still be alive? I shook my head, no, simply no. She saved our lives that day, the whole camp even.

Ok stop thinking of the past and focuse on the present Vincent. Now, teleporting to San Francisco is a bit tricky, even getting here I was off a little. I got two trips in me, hopefully I don't overshoot myself and end up on the side of the mountain.

Carving a portal out of the air, I stepped through.

{¥£€}

Ok, I may need a refresher in teleporting when I get back home. I wound up a whole mile away from the mountain. So after walking the beaten path for the past hour. As I began to reach the top of the hill, I slowed my walking, Landon may be a dragon but that doesn't mean they can't sneak up and kill you.

When the garden came into sight, I found Landon, sleeping at the base of a large tree. And a few feet away from the hundred headed dragon, a sword was stabbed into the ground with weeds growing up the blade.

I gulped...that dragon was much bigger than I thought.

Walking towards the blade, I kept my eyes on the dragon, careful to make sure I didn't accidentally wake the beast. I didn't know if Dragons had superior senses or not, but better to be safer than sorry. I was only a few feet away, reaching towards the hilt, I suddenly smelt something acidic. Turning around, I found myself face to about with one of his heads.

Landon hissed at me, green slime dripping from his fangs. As one of his heads reeled back, I raised my forearm up as a glyph of orange light spiraled out forming a shield to protect me from it's powerful jaws. I fell into my back and tucked my legs close, the shield growing until it covered me, Landon tried to break through the orange translucent should, but it was no use.

The Shield of Seraphim, one of the first spells Strange taught me for my defense. Through the shield o saw a dozen heads stare down at me in irritation. I fallowed them back to the base of the tree before realizing someone.

What I thought to be a large hill of dirt around the dirt wasn't soil. It was the rest of Landon's body...ok Zoë was right I am so gonna die!

As his feet stomped towards me, I went into overdrive mode. There has to be a way out of this! His heads were going into a rapid fire mode, hitting the shield every chance it got hoping to crack it open. The ground around me shook from it's feet walking towards me. At this rate the thing could just squish me with my own shield if he stomped on it!

I felt something slip out of my pocket, looking down I saw the bag of sunflower seeds I was given from my patient earlier today...wait that's it!

Grabbing a few seeds, I tossed them into my mouth, "I call upon the Violent Vines of Violmil." I said before dropping my seeds.

The dragon opened his mouth, acid dropping onto the ground, a drop singing my hair.

Then, I spat into it's mouth.

The beast blokes in surprise, not expecting a demigod to do something so stupid, so me her, so...gross. But just as it's mouth opened again, vines spewed out out from it's mouth, spreading over it's teeth and quickly over it's head.

Enchantment. I love you. As the heads were thrown into frenzy, I scrambled onto my feet, reached over and grabbed the sword, ripping it out of the ground I swung it around on a full circle, slicing one of the jugular...jugulars. Plural.

I took off like a bar out of hell down the hill, the dragon crying as the vines climbed over it's neck and spread out to the other heads. The vines weren't deadly, they just grew like crazy. Commonly they're used to ensnare something, but adding more magic to it can cause them to grow out of control and suffocate their victims.

When I was down at the base of the hill, I cast a portal and dove through.

I landed on wooden floor, looking around. I let out a groan, "Oh thank the Vhishanti! I'm back! Wow. Never thought of say that about this place." I said, glad to be back in the Artifacts Room. I looked over in my hand to see the sword was still being held in my grip. "Heh. Five years and I still got it." I said as I sat upright, laying the sword across my lap.

Camp may have been a mixed bag, but I still practiced swordsmanship I learned there, it was invaluable.

After getting out of the room, I turned around to find Wong. Patently standing with a smile. "I'm glad you've returned Vincent." he said sincerely. I held out the sword, but he shook his head, "Master Strange informed me that you must return the blade yourself."

My smile instantly dropped. I had to give Charion the sword!?

It took a few seconds, but I realized something. "...Strange planned this from the start didn't he? And your in on it too. Aren't you?" I asked. The man servant simply smiles innocently. "...if I didn't know you could kick my ass Wong I'd take a shot at you. But I'm too tired...ill do it tomorrow." I said as I walked past him, heading towards my room.

I did drag the tip of the blade against the floor. Leaving a nice long scratch for him.


	3. Chapter 3

**I Get What I've Have Coming**

I stared at the orb of Agamotto.

Part of me was actually excited about going back...and of course every other part of me felt disappointed with myself. I left camp in the first place because I didn't feel like I belonged there, that I felt useless.

But that was years ago...so why do I feel so scared?

Oh yeah Annabeth, Luke, and Grover. The three friends I had in the entire world that I left behind. That was another huge thing I needed to deal with. I kept thinking of the good and bad that could come from my visit, on the good hand I get to see my friends again...on the bad, Annabeth will most likely kill me.

"Nervous?" I turned back around to see Wong, Strange was still investigating the underworld break in, and we always need someone at the Sanctum just in case, I tried to get the Servant to take my place. He said if I could beat him in a sparring match I could go, I simply made my way here, not willing to die today...but then again, Annabeth.

"You remember where I put my will right? You know, just in case I don't come back?" he asked. Wong gave him a sympathetic look, the martial artist probably could tell I was apprehensive about returning.

Wong put a hand in my shoulder, "Think of it as a bandage. Best to rip it off, and get over with it quickly." he advised, I took a deep breath before exhaling. It wasn't like she wasn't wrong. I needed to get this over and done with.

Summing a portal from the orb, I walked through quickly so I didn't have time to regret my decision. I was on Half-blood Hill now; Long Island was not too far away from Manhattan so it was still midday here.

Yeah first time I used a portal, first place I went to see was LA. However it was midnight there when it was evening in New York. Time Zones are annoying to keep in mind.

I shook those thoughts aside and looked at Thalia's Tree. I walked over to the tree and smiled, leaning on the sword for support. "Hey Thalia, long time no see huh?" I greeted the tree. Silence was the only reply I got in return, as expected, "So...Annabeth is going to murder me. I don't know if your dead or not, but if you are? You're going to be seeing me real soon. Just a heads up." I warned.

The tree was not encouraging me.

I looked towards Camp, for the most part, it had not changed one bit. The Big house may need a new layer of paint but other than that, the place looked just like it did when I was here last. As I made my ways towards the Big House, I looked around for Chiron, at best I'd pop in, say hi, drop off the sword, and leave.

"Why hello Vance." I cringed at the voice, on the porch of the Big House was of course none other than Dionysus, or rather Mr. D as everyone at camp called him. Of course I would run into the god of wine, the guy didn't even say any of our names correctly, in fact I'm not sure if he knows them.

"Mr. D...good to see you, do you know where Chiron is?" I asked politely, I didn't really have anything against the god of wine, but the only reason he was here was for punishment, I couldn't exactly remember what for, but I know that if he could, he would ditch the camp.

He stared down at his coke for a moment before looking back up at he, "I think that he was at the archery course." he answered, I gave him a nod of appreciation before making my way towards the range. "Give my regards to Strange." he called out. I rolled my eyes, sure he remembers Doc's name…. then again how do you mess up a guy whose last name is Strange?

As I made my way to the range, a few campers gave me some looks. I must have looked out of place a little, for one thing I didn't have a Camp Half Blood tee shirt on, I simply ignored the curious looks as the archery range came into sight. The centaur looked just like he did when I first came to here, thinning hair, bushy beard, and he looked pretty well for a guy over two thousand years old.

"Admirable effort Howard, however patience is the key to precision." he said to a kind around my age, his target having a number of hits but none of them on the bullseye. He may not look it, being a centaur and all, but Chiron may be one of the best shots ever. I remember during his demonstration back when I was here, he nails six targets while galloping.

When someone asked how he did it, he simply answers, "With practice."

As the half-blood went back to shooting, he must have felt me approach, he turned to me and gave me a friendly smile, "Ah, Vincent. It's good to see you again." the centaur greeted warmly. He saw the sword in my hand, held it out to him by the blade, "I can't thank you enough for retrieving this blade." he said gratefully.

I shrugged, sure I may have almost died getting it but if I were being honest I nearly die at least once every week. Nothing to cry over, "If you don't mind me asking, why do you need it? It's not infused with any major magic I can tell that much, and it's not exactly all that well known." I asked.

Chiron gave me a look, it was a mixture between sad and sorrowful, and I knew it. He couldn't tell me, I sighed out in slight frustration, the gods, as powerful as they are, are not known to reveal much if anything. Now they aren't all knowing as they claim to be, as a certain god of thunder would make you believe.

Only the Fates knew what was meant to be, just goes to show that 'all powerful beings' doesn't mean control over everything.

But of course with immortality, they don't exactly learn to grow up. Poseidon and Athena still held a grudge one another because she won the people of Athens over with her olive tree, and for Poseidon and Medusa doing the nasty in her temple.

I sighed and nodded, "Right, so what else can I do for you? Any dark spirits? Possessions?" I asked, wondering if there was anything I could do while I was here.

The teacher smiled, "No, nothing like that. However I'm sure Stephen wouldn't mind if you stated for a while." he offered. I had to say it was a little temping, while Wong makes amazing food, it'd be nice not eating at my desk…..and with, you know. Other people.

The sense of impending dread was gone, and now? I felt relief, "Sure why not? You wouldn't happen to know where Luke and Annabeth are?" I asked. "Oh and Grover, I really should see Grover too." I added quickly, I had the bag of sunflower seeds for the satyr, I'm sure he'd like them.

Grover was kind of a loving garbage disposal. When we were on the run, I saw him eat Styrofoam plates. Used to creed me out, still does a little, but then again I've actually eaten grosser things. So I'm really not one to judge. Now in hindsight I realize that I felt like there was no reason for me to feel nervous about coming back at this point. I was wrong, very wrong.

As soon as I said that, I heard someone shuffle behind me. I turned around to see a young girl, not older than twelve, standing before me. With blonde hair and silvery grey eyes that looked like they could kill me with the glare that could make someone run away.

A second later, before I could even say anything, I was flat on my back, back against the ground, my nose broken and leaking blood. Annabeth decked me and gave me a broken nose.

I'll admit, I thought I would get much worse.

[¥£€]

I was in the infirmary a few minutes later, Chiron had stayed behind to deal with Annabeth before she could break something else. I made my way over and one of the Apollo kids reset my nose and told me it'd be healed by next week.

While I sat on the bed the door opened and in stepped young man. He had to be older than me, he had a scar running down the side of his face, blonde hair, and when he smiled I swore he looked….

"Ok I swear if I knew Annabeth was going to break your nose I would have told you to stay away." he said.

It dawned on me instantly who he was, "Luke!" I sat up and walked over, giving him a friendly hug as he returned it, I gave him a pat on the back as the door swung closed. "Man it's been too long. I haven't seen you since I messaged you two years ago." I said as I looked the nineteen year old over.

He patted my shoulder, "Yeah it's good to see you too." he said, wincing when he saw my broken nose. "I seriously can't believe she broke your nose though."

I breathed out through my mouth, "Yeah well I can't exactly blame her you know?" I said as I turned back to the bed and sat down on the edge of the bed. I should have known something like this would happen, though to be honest I didn't expect to be hurt physically.

Luke crossed his arms, "So mighty wizard, you've come to grace us muggles with your presence?" he asked jokingly.

I ducked in my lips, "First off. Sorcerer. Not wizard. Second, you're a demigod, and third, kind of. Chiron wanted me to get a sword for him for some reason." I explained before smiling at him, "But it is good to see you again. And Annabeth…..where's Grover at?" I asked.

Luke leaned against the doorframe, "He's out searching for a new Demigod….he still feels guilty." he said sadly. I sighed at that, Grover felt the most responsible for what happened to Thalia. It didn't help that the council of elders, basically the top nature spirits, held him accountable.

"He shouldn't." I said firmly. I didn't mean for there to be anger in my voice but it happened.

Luke nodded in agreement, "Tell him that if you see him….so what's the story behind the sword?" he asked.

I rubbed the back of my head, "Well Chiron called the Sanctum Sanctorum-"

"The what?" Luke interrupted.

"Place where I live. It's a big magic house. Anyway, he called us and told us to find the sword as favor. Strange was out so I found the Hunters-" I continued.

"Wait, Hunters? Of Artemis?" he asked, remembering how the stuck up girls acted towards them.

"One in the same yes. They told me that the sword was giraffes by this big dragon with a hundred heads." I explained. The older boy winced at the mention of the dragon, I noticed his hand trace over the scar on his face.

"Landon." He muttered.

I looked at him surprised. "How did you…."

He shook his head, letting out a breath, "A while ago I got to go on a quest. To get an apple from a tree, the one Landon was guarding." he explained. He gestured to the scar on his face, I thought nothing of it at first. Heck most demigods have scars, but finding out Landon hurt him…

"I should made sure he was destroyed." I muttered.

"So wait you don't beat him either?" he asked before giving me a Hermes kid grin, "Well now I feel much better." he said before pushing off the door and opening it. "I'm got to head out and get to my next activity. See you at dinner?" he asked.

I gave him a smile, "Save me a seat at the Hermes table."

He nodded and smiled before shutting the door. I laid back onto the bed, blowing out air through my mouth. When I heard the floorboards creak I bolted upright, looking around I saw the room was emptying brought my hands together, touching my fingertips together I curled my pinkies and index finger.

On my forehead, a third eye opened, I could now see in a different spectrum. The third eye was another spell that Strange taught me when I first arrived, it served mainly to find and discover things hidden to the naked eye. I could see past most illusions, including the now invisible Annabeth who was staring at the new eye on my forehead.

"I can see you….obviously." I said, the third eye blinked. It made Annabeth pull the baseball cap off her head, she appeared fully visible. I closed the third eye, making it fade from my forehead, I had to blink a few times in other to readjust my sight. "Give me a sec? That trick kind of makes me see funny." I explained.

Annabeth simply stood there, staring at me. "So you are actually learning magic…..I thought Chiron and Luke just…." She trailed off shore shaking her head. "You ran away."

"And you decked me in the face…..you have a nice right hook by the way." I complimented, the daughter of Athena was still staring at me. She was still angry, clearly, but she wasn't as mad as before so I was trying to keep her at that level.

She looked downward, not meeting my eyes, "You deserved it. You left without saying a word, you didn't even think about anyone else you just…." she trailed off, Vincent pressed his lips together. "What are you doing here anyway?" she asked finally.

There was no use in lying to her, she'd somehow know. "Chiron asked me to retrieve a sword." she her silver eyes looked like they were trying to kill me. I'm really considering portaling out of here to avoid getting beat up again.

"So you come back after years for a sword, but not for your friends…." she stated bitterly before turning towards the door.

"Annabeth-" she stomped out the door and slammed it shut. I sat there for a few moments before letting out a sigh. That was brilliant Vincent, you really know how to talk to your friends. I fell back into the bed and covered my face, I really screwed up.

I stayed like that until the dinner bell rang. Though I did contemplate bailing out of camp all together, it would only make my situation worse in the long run so I headed for the dining pavilion to grab a bite, as soon as I arrived however I found myself in the center of attention. Apparently, news of my getting sucker punched by Annabeth had spread like wildfire through the camp. After grabbing my food. Which was a cheeseburger and curly fires, I turned to the tables and saw Luke waving me down. I smiled as I walked to the Hermes table and took my seat, "Well you're the talk of the camp." He said in a cocky tone.

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah well next time I see doc and Wong I'll show them this. 'I told you so.' Is going to be what I'm telling them for a few months." I replied with a smirk as I dipped my fries in ketchup and ate them. It was the small things like that which made my day, telling Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, that I was right and he was wrong was rare, and I was so going to rub it in when I see him, all I good fun of course, he'd do the same to me.

"Ah, actually no. What camp is talking about I the magic boy coming to camp." He commented off-handedly, nearly making me coke on my fries.

"Magic boy?" Luke nodded. I was silent for a moment before I frowned, "MAGIC BOY?!" I asked a little louder, I was not some little kid playing magician! I was a Sorcerer! And I will not be a joke! Or beaten again! Ok Annabeth kind of had a right to but not anyone else! Touching the magi gauntlet with one hand, I raised my other under the table and drew a small circle and raised it over my goblet, Luke watched with baited interest as I let the circle slowly fall down face first over by drink. "I wouldn't drink your goblet for the next ten minutes if I were you." He said to his friend as he snapped his fingers, making the circle shatter and spill into his cup.

I took a sip and thought for a moment before gulping it down. A few seconds later, one of the Aries kids spat out their drink, followed by few Hermes kids at the table he was at then finally Annabeth did as well, "What the….how?" she sputtered out, she looked over at me, I simply smiled and waved.

I replaced all their drinks with Diet Mountain Dew, the wort pop known to mankind.

Luke had to cover his mouth to stop himself from laughing, when a few of his bothers noticed, Luke merely pointed to me. The things about Hermes Kids? They were pranksters, they knew how to take a joke, however when they started clapping their hands I couldn't help but fee; my pride swell a little. "Oi!" I turned around to see the Aries girl whose drink he transmuted, "Did you swap my drink?" she asked, holding up her goblet.

I nodded, she spilled it on my head before walking away back to her table, "That was Clarisse. Head of Aries Cabin…..you got off very lucky." Luke said as shrugged by clothes, instantly cleaning the soda from my clothes and hair. "Ok we get it, magic is cool." Luke said.

"Yeah….it is." I said with a knowing grin, the guilt that I had about leaving Annabeth and Luke had faded away, what I did was important, and if my friends were mad at me for my decision, then the best I could do was stand by what I chose and hope they forgave me. Or at least in Annabeth's case hate me less, after I finished my fries I took the cheese burger to the fire and dumped it in, "I still think regular burgers are better but to each their own Thalia." I muttered.

As the other campers started to file out and to the fire pit for the evening, I walked with Luke toward the campfire, it had stands in a half circle around the fire pit that was big enough for everyone to sit in and feel the warmth of the flames. I fallowed the other campers in the sing along as best I could, when it was time to go to bed I stayed behind near the fire for as long as I could while the other campers left. I told Luke that the Harpies wouldn't bother me, in truth I never ever saw them when I was here so I doubted there was any at camp, in fact I was sure they were just made up so campers wouldn't sneak into one another's cabins at night.

Standing up from my seat I walked away from the fire and made my way up the hill towards Thalia's tree, stopping in front of the base of the trunk I patted the pinewood. "Hey Thalia… you know today went surprisingly well. Annabeth did deck me but I think she'll forgive me eventfully…hope you got the cheese burger I burned for you." I muttered the last part out.

"Vince?" I nearly jumped out of my skin, almost literally, before turning around to see a certain satyr with a wispy beard and curly brown hair. Before I could react, Grover gave me his best bear hug, "Oh man you're here! I can't believe it I haven't seen you in years!" he said as I weakly returned the embrace, how a guy who eats plastic plates has that much strength behind him I will never know.

Grover…. air!" I managed to get out before he released me, "How are you goat boy?" I asked, patting Grover on the shoulder. I haven't seen the Satyr since before I left, Grover was the nicest guy ever, he always thought of others before himself epically when it came to helping other Demigods. But he always blamed himself about what happened to Thalia, both of us did, but I knew that he wasn't in any way to blame for what happened, I anything I blamed Zeus and Hades for what happened.

"So where have you been? I haven't seen you all day." I asked as we both took a seat at the base of Thalia's tree.

The Satyr rubbed the back of his head, "I uhhhh…. I've been getting ready, I heading to New York tomorrow, we found a Demigod." He explained apprehensively, Grover felt that he had a bad luck streak after what happened to Thaila, and when I was last here he hadn't gone out after a demigod in a while. Grover didn't have much confidence in himself, I found that out shortly after I got to know him, maybe I could help…

Digging into my pocket, I pulled out a small card before handing it to him. "I live in the Village, you ever run into any trouble don't hesitate to call if you need a hand." I said, Grover looked at the card like it was a golden ticket, "I mean you got a chin strap going on, get with the times man." I joked, Grover snorted out a laugh that I joined in with. "I'm happy to see you Grover….look I'm sorry I-"

"Hey I get it. You needed time…I did too." He said in a somewhat saddened voice, he glanced at the tree. "In a way Thalia's saved more demigods than any protector ever could." He said, trying to look on the bright side. And I had to agree, because of her sacrifice Thalia has been keeping the entire camp safe, even if it cost her life.

"Well she wouldn't have made it this far without you getting us here." I added, putting a hand on his shoulder as I looked at Thalia's tree. "You know when I first got into magic…. I thought I could find a way to fix Thalia…. turn her back to normal." I confessed. Grover looked at me sadly, "It might be possible but…...she was dying when she was turned into the tree…. It might be like pulling her from then to now…..." I said sadly. "On the bright side, she'll probably be the oldest demigod ever at this rate." I added, trying to be positive.

Grover chuckled, "Yeah…it was good seeing you man." He said before giving me a one-armed hug and heading back to his place to sleep. Waving him off I scooted back into the base of the tree where the roots slightly spurted up from the ground that I used like armrests.

"I wish I could fix you Thalia…. but…." I looked back to the tree. I found my chest swell with determination, I needed to try at least. "I took a oath…..just like Strange, to help my patients to the very best of my ability, and I the least I can do is try damnit." I said lowly as I closed my eyes. I have been practicing this for a while but it was still pretty knowing and didn't know the full extent of what I can do with it. Strange only recently taught me Astral Projection, he told me that while this was a simple form of magic but was invaluable in many situations. The key was to relax and, well for lack of a better way of explaining, drift out of my body.

I felt myself floating up into the air, opening my eyes I saw that I was in the Astral Realm. Now it wasn't all that different from the normal world except that I was invisible to anyone in the physical world and time slowed down considerably, Strange told me that. You also get to fly, which is always fun.

Turning back to the tree, my eyes widened, the tree had a golden aura that spread out across the border of Camp Half-Blood. Slowly floating towards the tree, I pressed my hands against the trunk and phased into the tree. It was like entering a mind but in a more spiritual manner.

When I was Inside the tree itself, unlike dream realm reality things related to what I interacted with. For instance, the world around me had changed from the hillside to a uncountable amount branches stretching out from a large tree with dark storm clouds overhead. My green being landed on one of the branches and started walking towards the center tree. If Thalia was turned into the tree than it would make sense that the tree and these branches were made when the Thalia became the tree itself, and that Thalia herself was I the tree.

Walking to the trunk of the tree, I found a hole leading into the tree. Inside was like a maze that went all throughout the entire trunk of the tree, it felt like hours I spent in the spiritual construct but it had to be minutes at most in the real world. I found myself going down towards the roots of the pine tree, the once small tunnel now led into a wide room, with a large egg shaped thing of hardened sap in the middle, and inside was Thalia. My legs made me run over to the center of the room up to the side of the egg-shaped prison of Thalia's.

Inside, Thalia looked older than when she was first turned into the pine, as best as I could tell Thalia was still alive and aging but at a slower rate. She looked around my age, maybe fourteen and a half, and she's been in the tree for nearly a decade now!

I raised my fist and knocked it against the outer shell, she looked peaceful within her hibernated state. "Hmmm…. the sap seems to be sustaining your spiritual essence. But what about Physical? You turned from a human to tree so I suppose you could be turned back…. but what about your wounds?" I asked myself, levitating up from the ground to get a better look. I felt my stomach be pulled down from the sight of her wounds. There were multiple wounds she sustained, but they were not healing even though she was aging.

"Ok Vincent think. Doc told me that spiritual and physical healing are both separate and the same. But if I do anything to the barrier, it could cause her to be expelled from the tree and get killed from her wounds." I muttered as I stroked my chin in contemplation. I pinched the bridge f my nose, "Damnit there's nothing! How can I fix you if I can't-"I stopped myself, talking a deep breath to calm myself down. There's got to be something I could do…. there must be. Before I could inspect further, I felt something pull at my body. My real body.

Gasped loudly as I opened my eyes back up in the physical realm, it took me a few seconds to reacclimate myself. It was like waking up from a fever dream, in front of me was Annabeth, looking down at me with concern. "Are you ok?" she asked as I ran a hand through my scalp. Standing up from he ground I rubbed my eyes as I held up a finger to show I needed a minute.

"Sorry I was…um….." what could I say? I was inside Thalia's tree trying to see if I could fix her? Not only did it sound sad it sounded crazy. But Annabeth, th daughter of Athena that she was, looked between me and the tree before her grey eyes lit up as she figured it out.

"Were…..were you trying to-"

"I wanted to see if I could…If I could do anything…." I trailed off, not wanting to go into details of what I was doing or what I saw. I didn't want to get her hopes up, Thalia was like an older sister to Annabeth and I didn't want to say I could so something when I couldn't. Annabeth looked at me sadly, I could all but see the pity she had for me.

"You…You liked her. Didn't you?" She asked quietly. I gave her a blank look as though to say 'no duh' to her, "No I mean…. _like_ like her." She explained further. I closed my mouth, afraid of what I might say. Thalia was my friend, she was a amazing wonderful girl who helped me step out of my shell. She was brave, strong, fearless even, she was…. Everything to me.

"Yeah….I did…..still do I guess." My head hung low, it was pathetic how it sounded. Anyone in their right mind would have moved on by now, they would have accepted what happened and tried to get on with their life. But Thalia…she was a big part of my life. She gave me the courage I have, she gave me a life that has monsters and gods and magic in it. Hell, even her death in a sense made me who I am, if she had lived I might never have found Doctor Strange.

Annabeth's sad grey eyes bore into mine, "You were going to see if you can help her weren't you? Try and get her out of the tree? Without stopping it from protecting the camp."

"Ok I seriously envy your ability to piece together everything like that. Daughter of Athena." I interrupted.

She rolled her eyes, "Vincent….can you do it?" she asked the heavy question.

I sighed, "From what I saw? Maybe. And even then, it's a big maybe for someone my level…maybe in a year or two with enough research…. but right now, It's a snowball's chance." I said truthfully. One of the things that always amazed me about Annabeth was how for someone her age, she could take it at face value and understand it. She to let this information sink in, her eyes looking me over, like she was seeing if I could take another two or more years of learning.

She slugged my shoulder, "Ow!"

"That is for keeping that to yourself." Annabeth said before hugging me, "And this is for finally coming home." She added happily as I hugged her back with a smile. "Look…...come visit ok? If you don't I'll tell Thalia when you get her out." She threatened, I snorted out at that. Of course, she would use Thalia herself to threaten me.

Turning away I spun a portal to the sanctum into existence. Giving her a small wave, I hopped through the portal back into the Sanctum Santorum.

 **AN: Man, I really dragged my feet on this one, didn't I? Well I am sorry nonetheless for taking so long, I had to go back and make sure a few things were accurate before posting this chapter, as well as the few stories that I've made between now and then too. However, I will try my best to keep this updated once in a while.**


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